"The Iron-Merchant's Daughter" (December 1844) — Phiz's sixth serial illustration for William Harrison Ainsworth's "Auriol; Or, The Elixir of Life." (1850, rpt., 1865)

The Iron-Merchant's Daughter

Phiz

December 1844

14 cm high by 10.6 cm wide (5 ½ by 4 ⅛ inches), framed

Facing page 479 in serial, p. 70 volume, in William Harrison Ainsworth's Auriol; Or, The Elixir of Life (London: Chapman and Hall, 1850; rpt., 1865)

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Scanned image & text by Philip V. Allingham.

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Passage Illustrated: The Budding Romance between Auriol and Ebba Thorneycroft

"You look agitated," he said, noticing Ebba's uneasiness. "What has happened?"

"Not much," she replied, a deep blush mantling her cheeks. "But I have been somewhat alarmed by the person near the gate."

"Indeed!" cried Auriol, darting forward. "Where is he? I see no one."

"Not a tall man, wrapped in a long black cloak?" rejoined Ebba, following him cautiously.

"Ha!" cried Auriol. "Has he been here?"

"Then you know the person I allude to?" she rejoined.

"I know some one answering his description," he replied, with a forced smile.

"Once beheld, the man I mean is not to be forgotten," said Ebba. "He has a countenance such as I never saw before. If I could believe in the 'evil eye,' I should be sure he possessed it."

"'Tis he, there can be no doubt," rejoined Auriol, in a sombre tone.

"Who and what is he, then?" demanded Ebba.

"He is a messenger of ill," replied Auriol, "and I am thankful he is gone."

"Are you quite sure of it?" she asked, glancing timorously up and down the road. But the mysterious individual could no longer be seen.

"And so, after exciting my curiosity in this manner, you will not satisfy it?" she said.

"I cannot," rejoined Auriol, somewhat sternly.

"Nay, then, since you are so ungracious, I shall go and prepare breakfast," she replied. "My father must be down by this time." ["Book the First — Ebba," Chapter IV. "The Iron-Merchant's Daughter," pp. 70-71 in volume]

Commentary: A Budding Romance after a Week at the Thorneycrofts' on Vauxhall Road

Saved by the local watch and Mr. Thorneycroft from the underworld thugs, the Tinker and the Sandman, at the ruined house on the Vauxhall Road (the subject of plate 3), Auriol now acquires a love interest, his host's daughter, Ebba Thorneycroft. This romance will complicate the plot considerably as Rougement will abduct her and her father will lead a rescue mission. With the immense amount of detailing in the present plate, Phiz leaves the reader in no doubt about the physical setting, an urban iron-monger's. The proprietor himself is to the left, just above the mantrap, the sign for which may of course be the artist's embedded comment about Ebba herself as Auriol's prospective bride.

The scene, set on a spring morning, is the scrapiron-merchant's junkyard, indicated in the illustration by rusty anchors, old iron, numerous horseshoes, and bizarre statues. Ebba has just spotted a mysterious, cloaked stranger lurking across the street, and has retreated back into the house. When they come out together, the lurking stranger has disappeared, but Auriol guesses who is, and why he is stalking Ebba. Auriol then warns her that any woman who loves him is doomed.

Related Material

Bibliography

Ainsworth, William Harrison. Auriol; Or, The Elixir of Life. London: Chapman and Hall, 1850; George Routledge and Sons, 1865.

Ainsworth, William Harrison. Revelations of London. Ainsworth's Magazine. Vol. VII (October — December 1844).

Lester, Valerie Browne. Phiz: The Man Who Drew Dickens. London: Chatto and Windus, 2004.

Steig, Michael. Dickens and Phiz. Bloomington & London: Indiana U. P., 1978.

Sutherland, John A. "Auriol." The Stanford Companion to Victorian Fiction. Stanford, Cal.: Stanford U. P., 1989, rpt. 1990, 33.

Vann, J. Don. "Auriol; Or, The Elixir of Life in Ainsworth's Magazine, October 1844 — May 1845." Victorian Novels in Serial. New York: Modern Language Association, 1985. Pp. 24-25.

7 October 2026